June 2011

MBDA.gov Newsletter

Exporting U.S. innovation, products and services is a top priority for the Obama administration, and MBDA is putting the spotlight on how minority-owned businesses are growing and thriving overseas so that we can be more prosperous here at home.

Recently, President Obama held an economic summit in Puerto Rico, organized in part by MBDA and the U.S. Department of Commerce.  MBDA National Deputy Director Alejandra Castillo and our partner the Puerto Rico MBDA Business Center were integral in the success of the summit where President Obama’s Task Force on the Status of Puerto Rico made its final recommendations to boost job creation on the island.  The Task Force recommended that MBDA continue to aid job creation and innovation by helping to facilitate public-private partnerships to finance the Integrated Bio-refinery Program.  This program—which aims to create biofuels from sugar cane—will allow America to grow our own fuel and grow jobs at the same time.

This month, the U.S. Census Bureau released the final data from the 2007 Survey of Business Owners (SBO), which offers a wellspring of data on the characteristics of minority-owned businesses in the United States.  One characteristic that is sure to have a profound effect on our efforts to double exports over the next five years is that the minority business community continues to lead in global commerce.

Firms owned by minorities are twice as likely to export as non-minority firms. Mexico, Brazil and the Dominican Republic account for more than half of minority-owned business export transactions, with Peru, Nicaragua and India following behind those three. With 95% of the world’s population living overseas, the fact that MBEs share language commonalities, culture and connections to other countries make minority-owned businesses natural exporters to international markets.

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On May 31st, 2011, President Barak Obama officially nominated Mr. John Bryson to succeed Gary Locke as Secretary of Commerce.  John Bryson was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison and Edison Mission Group, from 1990 to 2008. He is a director of The Boeing Company, The Walt Disney Company and Coda Automotive, Inc. and is a senior advisor to KKR among his many other roles in the private sector.

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July 7-10: Japanese American Citizens League National Convention

July 15-18: National Association of Counties Annual Conference and Exposition

July 20-22: Annual Elite SDVOB Network Convention

July 23-27: 102nd NAACP Annual Convention

July 27-30: National Urban League Annual Conference

View Event Calendar

On June 8, 2011 MBDA conducted a pre-application conference. Access both the audio and video net replay of the pre-application conference webinar. The replay will be available through July 7, 2011. Download Pre Application Conference Presentation.

MBDA is establishing a business center focused exclusively on ensuring that all Americans share in the jobs and opportunities created by Federal procurement, the world's largest purchaser of goods and services.  The MBDA Federal Procurement Center will offer minority-owned firms an opportunity to gain access to the federal government contracting arena while the government benefits from the untapped potential of the minority business community.

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Her company is a distributor and reseller of aviation parts and materials to an international market of airlines, repair stations and other brokers abroad, with 95 percent of her business in exports. As an international supplier, she communicates in six languages: English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese and Romanian.

“I organized it, and built it up based on my previous experience in sales and after models of companies I wanted to emulate,” Oprea said. “I had to create everything myself and sustain myself along these years.”

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